


The Light of the Knight of the Sun

by forxmh



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, aaaaa, knight!taeyang, prince!hwiyoung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 15:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15003710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forxmh/pseuds/forxmh
Summary: When the royal family of the Galilean Moons come to visit the Sun, knight Yoo Taeyang is assigned to guard their youngest prince. As the two men are required to share all their time, they inevitably grow close. However, as Taeyang learns more and more about Youngkyun, he realizes he will need to share something much more important than his time with the prince.





	The Light of the Knight of the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> hi. so i wrote this for my creative writing class, and decided to post it because why not. it's really fantastical and pretty long for my style, so go easy on me!! also i used Youngkyun instead of Hwiyoung, and one other member makes an appearance for about two seconds max. i recommend listening to the theme of mitsuha by radwimps and loving is easy by rex orange county if you want the full experience. just those two songs on repeat. i hope you enjoy:)

Yoo Taeyang had never met anyone from another planet. He’d expected moon-people would look just like sun-people, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

The young man struggled to keep his jaw shut as the royal family of the Galilean Moons of Jupiter made their way past him. A silver glow emitted from their skin, quite the opposite of the fiery light his people gave off. They were tall and slender, their complexion milky white, and it was as if a small trail of moonshine followed each of them as they walked. To the young knight of the sun, they looked unreal.

Suddenly, Taeyang’s golden eyes made contact with one of the princes at the back of the line. His irises were so dark, the knight could not find his pupils. A shiver ran down the knight’s back as the other man smiled gently and looked away. Taeyang was unable to imagine getting used to the image of people like this, but he knew he was bound to. About a month or two ago, he volunteered to be a personal knight for one of the family members while they stayed upon the Sun, and now they have finally arrived.

The younger moon-people halted before the marble staircase that led to the throne room, and turned around to face the lines of guards. The King and Queen ascended the stairs as the large doors at the top were pulled open by two knights. Once the doors had been shut again, a preeminent sun knight came out in front of the family and addressed the room.

“Once again, we welcome the royal family of the Galilean Moons to our home. I will now assign each prince and princess a personal knight during their stay, in order to ensure their safety. May each knight called join their highness, and then escort them to their room within the guest palace. Princess Roa will be accompanied by Irene Bae.”

Taeyang’s toes curled as he watched an older female knight fall out of order and walk to the front of the room. He would have to spend as long as the court needed with this person, virtually every second of every day, and he’s never even guarded a singular person for any amount of time.

_Do you talk to them?_ He thought to himself. _Befriend them? Or just follow them around and make sure they don’t die?_ The man didn’t have time to make a decision before he heard his name ring throughout the room.

“Prince Youngkyun will be accompanied by Taeyang Yoo.”

There was only one member of the family left standing alone at the front, assumably one of the youngest. As Taeyang strode forward, he realized the prince was the same one he had made eye contact with earlier. He stood slightly slouched, the same tiny smile on his lips.

Taeyang stopped a few feet in front of him, bowed slightly, and rose again, extending his armored arm as an invitation. The man’s eyes locked onto his for the second time, and goosebumps immediately invaded Taeyang’s skin again. His eyes were as dark as Taeyang imagined the night sky, and Taeyang had yet to experience that sight.

The prince took his arm slowly, and together, they turned to stroll down the large walkway flanked by the rest of the knights of the sun.

The two walked silently out of the building and to the guest palace. Taeyang knew he had to at least introduce himself today, but he couldn’t manage to untie his tongue. The prince, Prince Youngkyun the knight recalled, stared unwaveringly ahead as Taeyang led him, so he did the same.

Taeyang had never before been inside the guest palace, but he was excited to spend time living there nonetheless. The knights were to sleep in what would be the servant room if a visitor was to bring theirs, so they can always be close by to keep the royals safe. Supposedly both his and Prince Youngkyun’s items had been placed within their rooms already. Taeyang didn’t have to see his temporary room to know it was nicer than his home. He couldn’t help but break into a smile as the prince and him approached the two knights stationed outside the palace doors. They both bowed to the prince and then turned to Taeyang.

“Yoo Taeyang, a personal escort,” the younger one said teasingly. Taeyang only huffed in response. The knight, Juho Baek, was one of his few friends, but Taeyang wasn’t sure if he had the right to joke around in front of Prince Youngkyun yet.

“I will take you up to your rooms,” the other guard spoke.

Taeyang waved to Juho with his unoccupied arm as the second knight led the pair into the palace. The building was made completely of marble, and consisted mostly of windows, staircases, and huge doors. The three climbed multiple flights of stairs until they arrived at the top floor.

“You are staying in the first room on the right,” Their guide spoke. “The knight’s room is within the original.”

“Thank you,” Taeyang responded.

The knight bowed, and swiveled around to descend back down the steps as the pair walked to their door. Taeyang separated from the prince’s arm as he pushed and held open the door, and the prince entered with a whispered thanks. Taeyang wasn’t sure if any sun royalty had ever thanked him for anything, but the thought was immediately wiped from his head as he shut the door and turned to observe the room.

The floors and walls remained as white marble, and every piece of furniture was a shade of white as well. A large window looking across the royal gardens spanned across the back wall and bounced light throughout the area. Bags that Taeyang guessed were Prince Youngkyun’s rested on top of a gigantic bed that jutted out into the middle of the room. Another door stood in each opposite corner, one assumably a bathroom, the other Taeyang’s room. The sun knight took a lucky guess and opened the door on the left to a room that looked like the mini version of the last one, which he was significantly satisfied with. The bags he had packed earlier that day rested upon his own bed, along with a folder that most likely held the prince’s schedule, and therefore _his_ schedule.

He took a seat on the edge of the bed and flipped the papers open. Of course he was right; he read that tomorrow he was to show the prince around the royal grounds, which sounded a lot more interesting than standing outside of a confidencial political conference for hours (which he was warned about). However, that meant he would have to speak with the prince. He decided to try that sooner than later.

Taeyang shut the folder, stood up and walked back into the larger room. Prince Youngkyun was standing by the window, his eyes squinted intensely. He glanced over at the knight, then looked back out.

“It’s so bright here,” he spoke.

His voice was deeper than Taeyang had expected, probably deeper than his own. The knight took a shallow breath before continuing the conversation.

“Yes, though luckily we have blackout screens, so we can sleep well at night. Your Highness,” Taeyang added.

Prince Youngkyun nodded, and then glanced over again. “Are you actually my personal escort?” he asked.

Taeyang choked slightly, unsure whether to laugh or feel offended.

“Oh no,” he responded, “It’s not like that. I’m just here to protect you, Your Highness. Although, tomorrow, I am to show you around the grounds, so maybe I will be for that day.”

“Well, in that case, don’t call me your highness, if you would,” the prince continued. “I am perfectly fine being called Youngkyun when we are alone. Are you to stay with me my entire visit?”

“I am, Your Highness. Or Youngkyun.”

“Yeah, Youngkyun. Thank you.” The moon-person turned from the window to reach out his hand to Taeyang. “And your name was Taeyang Yoo?”

“Yes.” Taeyang took Youngkyun’s hand and shook it firmly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

Their gazes clashed intensely for the third time of the day.

“Your eyes are very bright too. Your whole being is bright,” Youngkyun said, retracting his hand slowly and stepping backwards to observe Taeyang’s entire body.

The knight was still dressed in his daily armor, but his head was on full display. Taeyang could feel his cheeks heat up slightly as the other man took in his appearance. He tried to imagine himself from the prince’s eyes—  dark skin that basically poured out sunlight, blonde hair, large golden eyes. The two had quite the antithesis of looks, both perfect portrayals of their races’ features. Although, Taeyang did rise a few inches above Youngkyun, making Taeyang think he was probably a bit older than the prince.

“Yeah, most of everything here is bright,” the knight replied. “Except you, now. At least not bright in the same way.” Taeyang traded places with Youngkyun and took his own time to absorb the other man’s looks fully. His hair was longer than Taeyang’s and slightly tousled, a shade just as dark as his eyes. His nose was small but his shoulders were wide, and he still stood with his back slightly bent. He wore a typical princely suit, colored dark gray and paired with a tiny cape. The blush that arose on his face was much more noticeable on his light skin compared to Taeyang’s.

“And it’s always day here?” The prince’s words drew Taeyang’s attention back.

“Well, the sun never sets as we’re on top of it, so it always looks like day. But we do have a ‘night’— it officially lasts from eight o’clock pm to four o’clock in the morning. It is a time for us to sleep.”

Youngkyun hummed and moved over to sit lightly upon his gigantic bed. “It’s always dark at home. Our day is in the dark, just like your night is in the light.”

“Do you like the sunlight?” Taeyang didn’t move.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Nodding in understanding, Taeyang checked the clock that rested upon the large bureau across from the bed.

“It’s almost eight o’clock now, maybe you’ll be able to decide tomorrow after I show you around. Have you eaten? Or would you like to sleep?”

“I’m not hungry. Have you eaten?”

Taeyang’s lips curved upwards at the unexpected reciprocation.  “Yes.”

“Then yes, let’s sleep.”

The knight turned and pulled down the shades in front the window, easily shrouding the room in darkness.

“Wow, dark,” the prince said aloud.

“I will wake you up tomorrow morning,” Taeyang backed into his doorframe, feeling his way with a hand on the wall. “We will eat, then I will show you the extent of the grounds.”

“Okay.” Youngkyun’s body emitted a silver glow in the black, a light smaller than the radiation Taeyang knew he was giving off, but still glorious. The sun-person stared subconsciously as the other man started to unclip his cape, the small sparkles of moonshine falling off his skin more visible in his own soft shine. “Goodnight, Taeyang,” the prince glanced back.

“Goodnight.” Taeyang tore his eyes from the other, shuffled backwards into his room, and shut the door.

━━━━━━━━━━

“Do you have a preference to where we start?” Taeyang grabbed Younkyun’s hand and pulled him off the bed.

The two had eaten breakfast within their room, to the prince’s request. Taeyang had no reason to complain. Youngkyun instilled a sense of calmness in him; he wasn’t uncomfortable around him, and apparently the prince felt the same. They had sat right upon Youngkyun’s huge bed, eating across from each other very informally. Once again, Taeyang didn’t complain. Throughout the meal, he learned the prince was about two years younger than him, was rarely involved in politics due to his position as the youngest heir, and had a strong love for music.

Taeyang’s heart had nearly jumped out of his chest. Next to no one knew he had his own infatuation with singing. Singing was not the most knightley thing, so he had always kept his passion to himself, but maybe with this new moon prince, something could change.

“What is there to see?” Youngkyun asked.

“Hmm…” Taeyang formulated a list in his head as he tidied the room in preparation to leave. “The gardens make up the majority of the grounds, but there are sections within it. There is also the main palace where the king and queen reside, the building we were in yesterday. Then there are buildings for less formal meetings, a ballroom, and housing for many of those employed by the royal family, including myself.”

“Can we go to your house?”

Taeyang snorted at the prince’s words. “No. I’m supposed to show you the significant, pretty parts of the grounds, not my house.”

“Fine. What do you want to do?”

“I have no preference.”

“Okay, may we visit the gardens then? Everything else sounds boring.”

Another snicker fell out of Taeyang’s chest. “Perfect, we’ll go to the gardens.”

The pair made their way out of the guest palace in the same fashion they entered the day before, Taeyang supporting Youngkyun’s arm formally. Though this time, they both allowed their eyes to meet once in a while as they walked and spoke simultaneously.

Taeyang took the prince to the fountains first, then they slowly made their way through the gigantic royal gardens of the sun. The two walked for hours on end, both in silence and in aimless conversation. The moon-person complimented everything he observed, from the way the “light makes the water look sparkly” at the ponds, to the height of the trees in the woodsy part of the enclosure. Taeyang, having visited the gardens a countless amount of times, couldn’t help his gaze from landing on Youngkyun instead of the sights. How the man’s dark eyes could light up so bright when amused left Taeyang considerably confused, and he also noticed the prince smiled with a lot of gums and laughed at a pitch significantly higher than his speaking voice. All three features were almost sickeningly sweet.

When the two reached the final section of the gardens, the flower beds, the prince disconnected his arm from the knight’s and waltzed over to a patch of glowing golden blossoms.

“These look like you,” he said, plucking one gently from the ground and bringing it back over to Taeyang.

“Do they?” Taeyang laughed lightly.

“Yes, take this one.” Youngkyun shoved the flower into the other man’s hand.

“Thank you, Prince Youngkyun.”

“Just Youngkyun.” The younger man pouted.

“Of course. We’ve seen everything now, is there anything else you’d like to visit?” asked Taeyang.

“Can we stay here? This is so much prettier than the gardens we have at home. I absolutely love it.”

The words made Taeyang’s heart swell. The prince seemed so genuine, it made the sun-person’s stomach ache with a strange feeling.

“By all means,” Taeyang confirmed.

“Thank you.” Youngkyun beamed at the knight for the thousandth time that day. “May we go back to the ponds for now?”

The older man grinned back, and nodded. “I’ll lead the way,” he stated.

The prince linked his arm with Taeyang’s again, and the pair made their way backwards to visit the small bodies of water once again.

The two made it back to the guest palace around ten, well over official night hours. They changed to informal clothes, and snacked on a small meal the guest palace staff assumably left them in place of their breakfast trash from the morning. Taeyang could tell the prince was beginning to tire, but he insisted he wasn’t when asked. The knight shut the blinds in attempt to get him to give up, but instead, when the room became black, the younger man wrapped his hand around Taeyang’s bare arm and pulled him onto the bed.

Taeyang watched Youngkyun as the man held the sun person’s arm right up to his face, examining the light that beamed from the tan skin. The prince glanced back and forth between Taeyang’s arm and face, his eyes narrowed.

Unaware of what could be possibly happening, Taeyang’s heart rate sped up.

After about a minute of the process, Youngkyun dropped Taeyang’s arm and smiled at the knight.

“I think I like the sunlight.”

━━━━━━━━━━

The gardens slowly became the pair’s safe haven.

Youngkyun really never did get called for anything. Almost each day, Taeyang woke to an empty schedule. Those empty schedules, the majority of the time, took the two outside. It was as if the prince was becoming addicted to sunlight. All he wished to do was lay in the grass, sit with the flowers, or dip his feet into the fountains and soak up the shine. Taeyang was even able to recognize a change in the way Youngkyun looked at him.

Before this job, Taeyang had never really had time to laze like this. As an orphan of two great knights, both killed in battle, he had taken himself to school and worked at the same time since a young age. Once he graduated, the kingdom immediately took him in for knight training and helped him pay for a home on the grounds. After being dubbed a high ranking knight, he became even more busy than he was during his childhood. His assignments were never ending, and usually pretty tough, until this one.

But he loved it.

 

He loved laying next to the prince in the grass, sitting across from him in the flowers, and splashing him lightly at the fountains.

He loved the way Youngkyun looked at him.

As long as he could remember, the knight had never spent so much time with someone. The moon-people had been upon the sun for around a month, and Taeyang had yet to let the prince leave his waking sight. He had gotten used to the other man’s presence, to say the absolute least.

“Taeyang, come look at this!”

The knight’s eyes snapped away from a small songbird and instead to Youngkyun, who was halfway up a tree. The two were visiting the forest today, as the prince had earlier noted the birds were singing extra prettily today.

Taeyang jumped up from his seat on the ground and jogged over to the other man.

“Do I have to climb up to you?”

“Yeah, come on!”

Taeyang sighed in exasperation, but his cheeks only lifted at the excitement clear in Youngkyun’s voice. He wrapped his hands around the branches of the large tree, and hoisted himself up to the prince.

“Baby birds,” Youngkyun whispered as Taeyang reached him. He nodded his head to the right, indicating a tiny nest full of even tinier birds resting inside.

“They’re adorable,” the knight whispered back.

“I know, right. They’re going to grow up and sing just as loud as that one.” Youngkyun pointed out the older bird Taeyang had been observing earlier. “So beautiful.”

“Yeah.” Taeyang’s heart sunk a bit. Lucky birds.

“I wish I could sing like them,” Youngkyun said as he lowered himself and started scaling back down the tree. It was as if he read the sun-person’s mind.

“Me too,” Taeyang stated bluntly.

Suddenly, jumping back onto the ground, the prince let out a pitchy warble. Taeyang gasped, and nearly fell off the tree as a burst of laughter flew out of his chest.

“Hey!” Youngkyun yelled, a giggle present in his voice too. “I’m trying my best!”

He sang again as Taeyang dropped onto the ground, who was laughing almost as loud as the other was singing. Youngkyun finished his imitation with a little mocking riff that brought tears to the knight’s eyes.

“That was beautiful,” Taeyang hiccuped, his smile stretching to each side of his face. Youngkyun flashed his own gummy smile back, and raised his eyebrows.

“You try,” he challenged.

“Pftt. I’m going to blow you out of the water,” Taeyang said teasingly.

“Alright, prove it.” The prince leaned against the tree and nodded his head expectantly.

“Okay.” Taeyang took a second to catch his breath, letting out his leftover giggles, and then stood straight to focus on a point right on top of Youngkyun’s head. Then, he sang in front of someone for the first time in his life.

He didn’t necessarily attempt to imitate the bird, but rather sang a similar tune with his own tone. He hit both high and low notes and grew both louder and softer as he repeated the little song about three times. His eyes didn’t waiver from the point he picked until he finished, took a deep breath, and dropped his gaze to Youngkyun’s wide, dark eyes.

“I- What the hell?” he said.

Taeyang let out one more tiny giggle.

“Taeyang, why did that sound so good? You’re amazing!”

“No...” the knight responded.

“No no. Yes! What the hell!” Youngkyun stomped over to Taeyang, slammed his hands on the slightly taller man’s shoulders, and shook him. “You’re a singer, and you didn’t even tell me! All this time! I told you I love music, didn’t I? Your voice is so beautiful, Taeyang, what the hell!”

The sun-person’s blush was strong enough to show up on his deep tan, and the shine emanating from his being glowed even brighter than normal. He smiled at the ground as the prince dropped his hands and stared at him intently.

“I’m sorry.”

“Wait, no, don’t apologize,” Youngkyun said. “I’m just shocked, I didn’t expect that at all. Your voice is stunning.”

Taeyang’s heart swelled with all the praise. “Thank you, Prince Youngkyun.”

Even if the knight always loved to sing, he never knew if others would think his voice was nice or not. The validation his prince gave him sealed shut the small hole in his soul, and he was overjoyed.

“Of course. You should sing something again, sometime, if you want to. I’d love to listen... Stop smiling at me like that, I’m going to go blind.” The younger man’s cheeks started to grow rosy too, and he swiveled around to avoid the older’s grin.

Taeyang stepped forward, wrapped his arms around Youngkyun’s frame, and quickly pulled back again. The prince pivoted back around, his entire face red now.

“What was that for?” he blurted out.

“Making me happy.” Taeyang replied.

It would probably be impossible for the moon-person to flush anymore without becoming purple. He whirled around for the last time, and started marching away from the knight. Taeyang just chuckled, and dashed to catch up with him.

The two walked home only to the sound of Taeyang’s light humming, except for when Youngkyun randomly turned to the other stated: “You make me happy too.”

━━━━━━━━━━

One night, not long after, Youngkyun had an incident.

Taeyang jolted awake to a hand resting on his back. He promptly shifted around in his bed to face a dark figure looming over him, immediately confusing him. Only his own soft sunlight illuminated Youngkyun’s face. The prince wasn’t glowing silver anymore, and the moondust that usually peppered off of him was nowhere to be found. His eyes now resembled black holes, and the knight noticed streams of tears falling from both of them. He opened his mouth to speak, but the other beat him to it.

“It’s happening again,” he whispered.

“What’s happening? What’s wrong?” Taeyang sat up slowly, worry starting to flood his mind. Sun-people only lost their light when they died, but Youngkyun was very obviously alive in front of him.

“You can see, right?” The prince shifted his arms around, glaring at them. “I’m not…”

“Yes, I can see.” Taeyang reached to hold Youngkyun’s arm himself. His body felt terribly cold, and even when Taeyang brought his limb right up to his eyes, it was completely dull. His skin looked terrible in Taeyang’s light, almost translucent.

“Why does this always happen?” The younger man choked on his words, pulling away from Taeyang’s touch to wipe at his eyes.

“I’m… confused,” was the only thing the knight could state in response.

Youngkyun sat himself on the edge of the bed, and took a shaky breath. “This is why I really never get asked to do anything. Not because I’m young, but because I’m _different_. This happens all the time. Suddenly, my body just goes dark and cold, and no one knows why. It’s never happened to anyone else. My parents used to just seclude me when it happened. They don’t know if I’m sick or something, so I guess it was better to safe than sorry. I spent so much time locked away, by myself. And they made me stay in the dark, so I could tell if anything started to come back. It was hell.”

Taeyang nodded, his heart sinking.

“I could only eat, drink, sleep, and listen to music. It always took weeks to come back. I don’t understand why it happens to me, It’s so unfair. My body feels like it’s frozen numb. There’s absolutely no reason for it anyone could discover in the past nineteen years. I’m so fucked up. And now everyone’s scared of me, and I’m useless! This has made me shameful and useless, a waste of royalty. And for what?”

The prince could barely spit out his last words, a sob cutting him off. He put his head into his hands and wept.

Taeyang was at a loss for words. He would have never expected the prince to have gone through anything like that, he always seemed cheerful. Cheerful and normal, very normal. But he wasn’t, and the knight’s heart ached for him. Tears almost started to well up in his own eyes as he crawled forward and embraced the lightless man. He continued to shake and cry in Taeyang’s arms, but leaned to rest against the other’s chest.

“It’s okay,” the knight said slowly. “I won’t lock you away, I’m not scared of you. And you’re not shameful, nor useless. This is not your fault.”

“But-” Taeyang cut the prince off.

“No buts. You are okay. It doesn’t matter if you don’t shine, it doesn't make you anything you claim to be. If anything, it makes your parents terrible for secluding you, and you, special. They can’t handle it, and that’s their problem, not yours.”

“Special,” Youngkyun croaked. “I get locked up for being special.”

“I won’t let them hide you away anymore. I won’t let them.” Taeyang insisted. “And if they cut you out, what good are they? You don’t need them.”

“But then I won’t have anyone,” Youngkyun argued back.

“You have me.”

The prince choked on his tears, let out a loud cross between what sounded like a sigh and a sob, and buried his neck in the knight's shoulder. Taeyang hugged him closer to his body, wishing he could absorb all the sorrow out of the other man. His prince didn’t deserve anything bad in the universe. He longed to give Youngkyun all the light and happiness in existence, and he was sorry he couldn’t. As the other cried into him, the knight thought he should try his absolute best to do just that.

After a bit, Youngkyun grew quiet, and started to slump against Taeyang’s body— he fell asleep in Taeyang’s arms. The sun-person didn’t want to wake him up, so he simply leaned backwards until the two were laying on the bed, their arms still intertwined. Shortly thereafter, Taeyang fell asleep as well.

The next morning, he was awoken by the prince again. But this time, he was greeted with a great smile, and tears of joy.

“Look,” Youngkyun whispered, removing his arm from Taeyang’s side and bringing it up next to his face, still laying sideways. His skin was already glowing again, moonshine falling out of his eyes with his tears. “Look, it’s already back. It’s back, because of you. I know it,” he said between shallow breaths.

Taeyang’s heart rose into his throat, watching the prince laugh with glee through his weeping. He reached out and placed his hand on the younger’s face, wiping the hot water off his face as it fell out of his eyes.

“It looks like I have enough light for the both of us,” the knight whispered back.

━━━━━━━━━━

Everything changed after then— changed for the better.

Now, when the two visited the gardens, Taeyang didn’t lay next to Youngkyun on the grass, but rather half on top of him. When they sat across from each other in the flowers, they used one hand to twine their picks together while their other hands were intertwined themselves. When they splashed each other at the fountain, they would take it so far as to one of them embracing the other, and hurling themselves completely into the water.

The way Youngkyun looked at Taeyang changed even further, and Taeyang looked at him the same way back.

The two were back in the woods the day the deal was sealed.

“The birds are quiet today,” Youngkyun observed.

Taeyang hummed in agreeance, munching on a sandwich the two packed earlier. They embarked on their very first picnic today, and the knight was enjoying it thoroughly.

“I wish there was some type of music for us to listen to,” Youngkyun fake sighed. “Another singer to make up for the lack of the birds…” he glanced sideways at Taeyang, smiling shyly.

The knight popped the rest of his meal in his mouth and quickly finished it. “I know what you’re doing,” he said.

“I know you know that I’m doing,” Youngkyun replied. “I want you to know.”

“I’ll sing for you on one condition. Don’t compliment me a thousand times when I’m done, it’s embarrassing.” Taeyang didn’t exactly specify that the praise always made his stomach burst into a swarm of butterflies, Youngkyun didn’t need to know that.

“Okay, fine.” The prince pouted verbally, but grinned physically.

Taeyang took a deep breath, scanning through the songs he knew within his head. “Okay, here I go,” he said quietly, clearing his throat.

The moon-person watched perfectly silent as Taeyang swayed in place and sung to him.

_“...Listen, girl_

_When you can't even hide it_

_And it didn't take forever to find it_

_I was all on my own_

_Almost glad to be alone_

_Until love came in on time, on time…_

_So loving is easy_

_You had me fucked up_

_It used to be so hard to see_

_Yeah, loving is easy_

_When everything’s perfect_

_Please don’t change a single little thing for me…”_

Taeyang finished the song quickly, immediately looking down in embarrassment. He tried to keep his gaze on the ground as he heard Youngkyun move towards him, but suddenly his chin was lifted by the prince as he touched his lips to Taeyang’s.

The knight’s heart nearly stopped beating. He squeezed his eyes shut as his stomach dissipated into butterflies anyways. When the other pulled away, he smiled sheepishly at the sun-person.

“No compliments,” he said, his face beet red, but his silver glow shining brighter than ever.

Taeyang couldn’t help but tackling him onto his back and slotting their lips together for the second time.

━━━━━━━━━━

It didn’t take long for Taeyang to confess after that. About two or three months after the first time, Youngkyun lost his glow again; and this time it was handled much better.

“Taeyang, help.”

The prince was already laying next to the sun-person this time, Taeyang usually taking refuge in Youngkyun’s large bed at this point. When the knight woke up and became aware of the situation, he decided to try the first thing that popped into his head.

He sat up, leaned over panicking prince, cupped his face and kissed him deeply for as long as he could. When he leaned back to breathe, the shine of the other man’s skin was already starting to radiate again.

“Open your eyes,” he whispered to Youngkyun, who had his hands covering his  eyes in embarrassment. He peaked out in between his fingers, and must have noticed the change because he simply whispered:

“Oh my God.”

Taeyang continued to hold the other’s face long enough to feel tears start to wet his skin. He sighed, and leaned down to place a peck on Youngkyun’s forehead.

“I love you,” he said.

His prince hiccuped. “I love you, too,” he breathed. “so much.”

The words accidentally brought tears to Taeyang’s eyes as well. He dipped down and continued to kiss the moon-person until his pale skin radiated light brighter than it ever had before.

“I told you you had me,” the knight whispered against Youngkyun’s lips.

“I know. I’ve always believed you.”

Taeyang rolled back onto the bed and pulled the other as close to him as he possibly could, burrowing his face in the younger man’s hair.  “Good.”

He was about to fall asleep again when he heard Youngkyun speak softly below him.

“Let’s be together forever.”

The knight couldn’t help snickering slightly, and when Youngkyun heard, he scoffed and tried to pull away from the other.

“No, no, stop!” Taeyang giggled and refused to let him go, holding the other’s head against his chest.

“Lemme go!” Youngkyun’s voice was muffled. “If you don’t want to be together forever, then so be it!”

“No, I do, Prince Youngkyun.” The sun-person pressed his cheek against the top of the other’s head in comfort. “That was just the cutest thing I have ever heard during my time on this sun.”

“What? I’m not cute!” The prince tried to pull away again, but the knight barely let him move. He gave up fast.

“Whatever you say,” Taeyang singsonged, closing his eyes. “Goodnight, my prince. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Youngkyun muttered.

━━━━━━━━━━

About three quarters of a year after the royal family of the Galilean moons arrived on the Sun, it was confirmed the group of planets were to become the first official colony of the Sun. Business was done, and it was time for the family to return home to break the news to their own subjects. However, they were due to come back in just a few, slow months.

“I miss you already,” Prince Youngkyun complained.

“I know, I already miss you as well,” responded Taeyang.

The two were packing all of the moon-person’s things together, slowly but surely. It was definitely the most dreadful activity possible for the couple to partake in, but they both knew Youngkyun had to return home at some point.

The prince had already asked Taeyang for them to stay “together forever,” but the knight was still distressed. He decided to prepare something to prove his own devotion to the moon-person before he left. When the two finished packing, early night hours the day before the royal family’s departure, Taeyang insisted on taking the prince back to the gardens.

“You know I’ll be back soon, Taeyang. This is not our last time in these gardens, whether you like it or not,” Youngkyun huffed, trailing slightly behind the knight, being led by their intertwined hands.

“Yes, I know. I just wanted to do something special for you, because I’m going to miss you dearly.”

The prince only answered by squeezing Taeyang’s hand tighter.

They walked through everything together, just like they always did, until they ended up in the same area of the flower beds they visited the very first day the knight showed Youngkyun around. Taeyang let go of the other’s hand, and turned around to face him.

“Okay, please close your eyes.”

“What? My eyes? Why?” questioned the younger man.

“It’s a surprise.” Taeyang stated.

“Oh, fine.” Youngkyun closed his eyes and crossed his arms, standing in place.

Taeyang backed away from him until he reached a certain patch of flowers, and slyly pulled a bouquet out from behind them. He quickly checked his pocket to make sure he had everything, then hid the flowers behind his back, and approached his boyfriend.

“Please open your eyes.”

The moon-person’s dark eyes snapped open, immediately staring into Taeyang’s wavering gold ones. The knight whisked the bouquet out from behind his back, and held it out towards the other. Without saying a word, Youngkyun took it in his hands, and held them up to his face.

“Um, remember the first day we came here, you gave me a flower that you said looked like me? I decided to pick one or two of each flower that reminded me of you, in any way. Which is a lot of flowers, because almost everything reminds me of you. And you’re my beautiful flower, and you deserve pretty things, and all that…”

“Taeyang, you’re rambling for the very first time since I’ve met you,” Youngkyun giggled.

“It’s because I’m nervous,” the sun-person responded.

“Aw, Taeyangie, you know I love you so much.” cooed the prince.

“I love you too, but that’s not it.” Taeyang took  a deep breath as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small golden ring.

“Okay… I already know you asked for us to be together forever, but this time I’m asking you. I was wondering if when you came back, maybe you’d stay here? With me? So we could, you know, be together forever, because I’m terribly in love with you, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to watch you leave again. If you think you’d want to do that, you can wear this ring for now, kind of like a promise ring. So you can look at it at home, and remember I’m here waiting for you. If you’d like.”

The prince stayed quiet for about a minute, just staring into his knight’s eyes. Taeyang, growing nervous, opened his mouth to speak, but before he could make a sound, Youngkyun stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him tightly. He remained silent, and instead hugged his prince back with all he had. When they let go, the moon-person held out his hand to Taeyang, who slid the ring onto his pinky finger.

“I love you, Yoo Taeyang. More than anything in the universe.”

“I love you too, Prince Youngkyun.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading!!! lmk any thoughts you have on here, or hmu on twitter @fluffhao :)))


End file.
